OPINION — Did Rev. Al Sharpton really call for an emergency meeting to address the “appalling” all-white Oscar nominees this year? Did he forget that last year “12 Years a Slave” made waves? I guess that’s the same excuse the Oscar voters are tossing out too. I was upset Ava DuVernay wasn’t nominated for Best Director for “Selma.” I get it that there were some fudging of some historical facts in the movie, but why hold “Selma” to a higher standard than “JFK” and “Gone with the Wind?”

I admit, the list of all-white nominees in the major categories is a little jarring, but it hardly rises to the level of calling an emergency meeting. Sharpton has been pretty quiet on how the Oscar voters became mostly white to begin with. This didn’t happen in 2015.

“The movie industry is like the Rocky Mountains, the higher you get, the whiter it gets,” Sharpton quipped in a statement released later in the afternoon.

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“I have called an emergency meeting early next week in Hollywood with the task force to discuss possible action around the Academy Awards,” he said.

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Said Sharpton: “The lack of diversity in today’s Oscar nominations is appalling and while it is good that Selma was nominated for ‘Best Picture,’ it’s ironic that they nominated a story about the racial shutout around voting while there is a racial shutout around the Oscar nominations. With all of the talent in Selma and other Black movies this year, it is hard to believe that we have less diversity in the nominations today than in recent history.” Source: Yahoo Finance

Rev. Al Sharpton issued statement via his National Action Network website: “The lack of diversity in today’s Oscar nominations is appalling and while it is good that Selma was nominated for ‘Best Picture,’ it’s ironic that they nominated a story about the racial shutout around voting while there is a racial shutout around the Oscar nominations. With all of the talent in Selma and other Black movies this year, it is hard to believe that we have less diversity in the nominations today than in recent history. National Action Network (NAN) has formed a task force on the movie industry to deal with diversity as I engage in dialogue with Sony Pictures Co-Chairman Amy Pascal. The movie industry is like the Rocky Mountains, the higher you get, the whiter it gets. I have called an emergency meeting early next week in Hollywood with the task force to discuss possible action around the Academy Awards.”